Even with the thick mist making visibility extremely low, every single path in this place was etched into Greg's mind like a brand, thanks to his 81 playthroughs of the original game's map.
From the dense fog, the hollow growls of undead creatures echoed from time to time, mingled with the startled cries of students, the chanting of incantations, and the sounds of magical explosions.
Clearly, many student teams who had taken the mission had already ventured deep into the area and engaged the undead in battle.
Greg did not stop.
He had a clear objective for this trip and no intention of getting involved in these scattered skirmishes.
Helping Victoria was his goal, but he didn't plan to do it by showing his face and intervening directly.
Since the recent discussions about him within the academy were becoming too heated, he needed to deliberately lower his profile and let the hype cool down naturally.
Thus, he decided to utilize the nature of the undead to help Victoria in a very discreet manner.
Undead creatures were monsters with a very strict hierarchy and power system.
Low-level undead instinctively obeyed and were even suppressed by the mental pressure and direct commands of high-level undead.
Once the high-level undead serving as the command core was killed, the low-tier undead under its control would fall into a brief state of confusion, losing their organization and becoming extremely easy to pick off one by one.
This characteristic of the undead provided Greg with an excellent opportunity to assist from the sidelines.
A single low-tier undead was a limited threat.
A swarm of undead might look dangerous, but as long as the highest-ranking commander was precisely decapitated, the entire group would instantly collapse.
According to the information from the original game, the highest-ranking undead leader lurking in this graveyard during the 'Return of the Dead' event was the Level 30 Undead Knight located in the Central Catacombs.
"Level 30..."
Greg calculated in his head.
This level was roughly the same as Associate Professor Audrey's during the End-of-Chapter-One event.
However, Audrey was essentially a theoretical-type professor, so direct combat wasn't her forte. The Undead Knight was different; it was a pure killing machine that knew no pain, had high resistance to physical attacks, was immune to many conventional alchemy poisons and potions, and possessed the ability to command an Undead Legion.
In the early game, this was definitely one of the most troublesome bosses.
Following the normal progression of the original story, when the protagonist Victoria reached this point, her level would be around 22 to 23 at most, requiring her to rely on teammates, tactics, and a bit of luck to pass.
But now, against this powerful enemy that required the protagonist's party to cooperate perfectly to narrowly defeat, Greg could suppress it directly with his level.
This was an experience that never existed in the original game.
The corner of Greg's mouth curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
"Before I take that guy down, Little Gray, you better hold on!"
He thought silently, quickening his pace.
Pfft!
An Undead Mage wearing tattered robes, with ghostly blue soulfire burning in its eye sockets, suddenly lunged from the thick mist on the right. Its withered skeletal claws reached for Greg, and its staff tip gathered dim death energy.
Greg didn't even stop. He simply raised his right hand and pointed his index finger.
A fist-sized but solid and scorching orange-red fireball shot out instantly, striking the Undead Mage's hollow chest with precision.
The flames exploded, instantly swallowing its fragile bones and soulfire core.
The Undead Mage couldn't even put up a decent resistance before turning into a pile of charred bones on the ground.
Although his Fireball proficiency was still LV2, its power had indeed increased along with his total mana and control.
It was sufficient for one-shotting ordinary monsters of a slightly lower level.
"However, my current means of attack are indeed too singular."
As he moved forward, Greg calmly examined his own shortcomings.
The only attack methods he could use openly were the most basic Fireball LV2 and Water Gun LV3.
Skills like Tentacle Entanglement, Void Erosion, and Dark-Erosion Armament, which involved dark-attribute mana, could never be easily exposed in public.
He had also tried to listen carefully in the academy's classes to learn Mid-tier elemental attack magic, but the results were depressing.
The construction of mana circuits, the principles of elemental resonance, and the coordination of incantation syllables explained by those professors... they were like a foreign language to him.
Clearly, he had no talent in that area.
So, he could only pray that when he killed monsters in the dungeon in the future, they would drop some conventional-looking attack skills for him.
"Once I've completely conquered the second layer and my Luck stat increases a bit more, I'll go grind some monsters. Hopefully, I can get some skills that meet my needs."
He silently made a plan in his heart.
Boom!
Another Undead Warrior that lunged from the mist was pierced through the head by a casual Water Gun, scattering into pieces.
Finally, Greg passed through the thickest part of the mist and arrived at the center of a relatively open wasteland.
There were more crooked tombstones here, and more skeletal remains scattered on the ground.
At the center of all the surrounding tombstones stood an exceptionally tall and ancient stone monument.
At the base of the tombstone, where it met the ground, a cold black aura faintly seeped out from the cracks.
"This is it."
Greg walked up to the tombstone, ignoring several low-level skeletons wandering nearby.
He reached out and quickly pressed several specific indentations on the side of the monument in a precise order.
Click... Clack...
The dull sound of a mechanism turning came from underground.
Immediately after, the heavy tombstone slowly slid to one side, revealing a stone staircase sloping downward. A dense aura of death mixed with the smell of stale earth wafted out.
Without hesitation, Greg stepped onto the stairs, his figure quickly swallowed by the darkness below.
The stairs were long and damp, and the air was terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of Greg's own footsteps echoing in the narrow space.
Occasionally, he could see some fragmented murals on the walls depicting ancient funerals or sacrificial scenes, but most had been eroded by time and moisture until they were unrecognizable.
After walking down for about two or three minutes, a faint light appeared ahead.
The end of the stairs connected to a space modified from a natural cave.
More broken coffins and bones were scattered on the ground, and the air was bone-chillingly cold.
Greg did not linger. He passed through this foyer-like cave, and a vertical opening leading further down appeared ahead.
He knew that the destination was just below.
"Undead Knight, the king who killed you 81 times is back!"
Standing at the edge of the opening, Greg took a deep breath and jumped!
His body fell briefly through the air before he adjusted his posture and landed steadily.
The view suddenly opened up.
This was an extremely wide natural underground cavern with a soaring ceiling and level ground. In the center of the cavern was a square platform resembling an altar, built from some kind of dark stone.
But instead of the Undead Knight standing there, the spot was occupied by a magic circle. Within the range of the circle's light, a figure draped in a deep gray robe stood with her back to the entrance, seemingly focused on sketching some runes.
However, with Greg's sudden intrusion, the figure at the edge of the platform stiffened, and her movements to maintain the runes halted.
She turned around almost instantly. From beneath the shadow of her hood, two sharp, knife-like gazes filled with shock, rage, and vigilance locked onto Greg as he appeared at the entrance of the burial chamber.
"Who are you?! How do you know I'm resurrecting the Undead Knight?!"
The gaze shooting from the shadow of the hood was filled with cold killing intent and inquiry.
"........"
Greg stood where he was, looking at the murderous hooded woman and then at the Undead Knight behind her in the magic circle, which was about to fully awaken. He remained silent for two seconds.
Then, he sighed silently in his heart.
"Sigh, the -10 Luck stat is still going strong."
Rate on N.U.
